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Friday, August 31, 2012

Vickers Has Earned Another Chance

Vickers has run well this season

Brian
Vickers has made the best of his part-time ride with Michael Waltrip Racing
this season. The question now is, will it pay off?

The former
NASCAR Nationwide Series champion was left high and dry when Red Bull Racing
cashed in its NASCAR chips at the end of the 2011 season. A tempestuous campaign
that included numerous wrecked race cars and on-track confrontations with Matt
Kenseth and Tony Stewart arguably lowered his stock in the NASCAR garage, and the
best offer he received for 2012 was a limited, six-race slate at the wheel of
MWR’s No. 55 Toyota.

Vickers has
taken that meager ball and run admirably with it, recording Top-5 finishes in
three of his six starts this season, en route to an average finish of 14.3.
That statistic would be even better if not for a blown engine suffered during
pace laps at Watkins Glen that relegated him to a disappointing, 43rd-place
showing.

There is no
doubt Vickers has made the most of his limited opportunities this year. And
yet, he is likely to take the green flag only twice more in 2012, with Mark Martin wheeling
the No. 55 Toyota in nine of the season’s final 12 races and Waltrip =slated
for duty at Talladega Superspeedway on October 7.

Thus,
despite a thoroughly impressive 2012 effort, it looks like another winter
filled with uncertainty for a driver who has faced more than enough uncertainty
in recent years.

Three Top-5 finishes in six starts

His 2010
season came to an early end after he was diagnosed with potentially life-threatening
blood clots in his leg and lungs. Surgery later that year to repair a congenital
heart defect cast his career in further doubt, and while he returned to the
sport after completing an arduous course of blood-thinning medications in
January of 2011, only to be left without a full-time ride when Red Bull bailed
out at season’s end.

At age 28, Vickers is hardly
in the twilight of his career. But after recording just two victories in 117
career Sprint Cup starts for Hendrick Motorsports and Red Bull Racing, the
North Carolina native is in danger of being surpassed by drivers just over half
his age. Quality seats are difficult to come by in this day and age, and while
MWR would like nothing better than to secure additional sponsorship, add a
fourth car and run Vickers full-time in 2012, the team has -- so far -- proven unable
to do so.

Similar scenarios apply at
Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress and Roush Fenway Racing; all of whom could expand
to four cars next season, but only after signing significant new sponsorship. The
open seat in Penske’s Racing’s No. 22 Shell Pennzoil entry will likely be
filled by either Sam Hornish, Jr., or Joey Logano next season, leaving Vickers
to compete for possible openings with the usual roster of mid-pack teams.

Sources say BK Racing has
expressed preliminary interest in Vickers, and Phoenix Racing could be
interested, if team owner James Finch is able to keep the doors open and driver
Kurt Busch goes elsewhere in 2013. Most likely, however, is a return to Michael
Waltrip Racing for another severely limited slate of events.

With his health and
competitive edge intact once again, Vickers clearly deserves better.